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Can Kenny Make Liverpool Title Contenders ?

This is the question Liverpool’s American owners will be asking, as Liverpool languish in mid-table in the Premiership.

Liverpool’s success in this year’s domestic cup competitions has papered over the cracks of their failings in the league, but the league table does not lie.

Many people thought Dalglish would only survive if he won the FA Cup because Liverpool’s league form has been so poor.

But Dalglish has won Liverpool their first trophy in 6 years when he won the Carling Cup earlier this year, and for Liverpool to get back to winning trophies is very important.

One season in charge is never long enough for any manager at any club and the American owners don’t want to make Liverpool into another “Chelsea” who hire and fire managers after a few bad results.

Dalglish has “legendary” status at Anfield and he is so committed to this club that he loves, and he will be working harder than anyone to put results right and improve this club.

But for the first time in his Liverpool career there are sections of the Anfield faithful criticising Dalglish and his managerial skills, especially after losing the FA Cup against Chelsea.

Dalglish has spent an awful lot of money on players that have not produced enough for his team and this gives critics the most ammunition to fire at him.

Andy Carroll cost the most money and his lack of goals has meant Dalglish has constantly been questioned of his worth to the club.

I’m sure Dalglish would have expected more from the players he has brought in, players like Adam, Downing, Enrique and Jordan Henderson, but sometimes it can take players time to adapt to a new club, especially a club as big as Liverpool.

In recent games Andy Carroll has looked more like the player we saw at Newcastle as his cameo role in the FA Cup final proved, so maybe he that game could be the making of the big striker in such a disappointing day for the club.

But with Liverpool 37 points behind leaders Manchester City in the Premiership, how can Dalglish bridge that gap next season.

It will be a must for Liverpool to qualify for the Champions League at the end of next season or there will be a reality that Liverpool will become a perennial mid-table club.

Competition is so much tougher now to gain a top four place with Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and even Newcastle all fighting it out this season, so next season will not be any easier.

But the American owners need to decide if Dalglish is the right man to take them forward. There is no doubt that Dalglish has brought unity to the club and the supporters since taking over, but can Dalglish take the club to the next level, it will be a very important summer at Anfield this year before the new season begins.

It looks like Liverpool will have to spend a lot of money too, to improve the side, but will the Americans be prepared to part with as much cash as they did last year to not see much reward for their investment.

Time will tell what happens at Anfield, but the American owners should remember to do things the “Liverpool Way” and with Dalglish in charge, nobody knows it better.

COMMENTS

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49 thoughts on “Can Kenny Make Liverpool Title Contenders ?”

This time last season we had no European football or trophy, now we have both. It is progress by definition so we should be happy, maybe only just???. I think with Lucas and Adam fit we will be better for sure, also buying a right winger and goalpoacher.

The players needed to go through this to improve next season, they are a lot wiser for it. I see KK as the right manager and always have, we have stability now unlike before both on and off the pitch.

FSG know we have great kids coming through and we don’t need that much coming in, on big fee’s. We need two players right now to improve hugely, look at Andy Carroll now, he looks like a top player. If we get the right additions we can do very well…………..100%

71m was recouped on (torres, 50m, meireles 15m, babel 6m) so when people exaggerate that Kenny spent 100m – 130m it is complete bull, the net spend is hardly that much at all. Some clearly have an agenda, remember the ‘net spend’ arguement was always used by some to defend benitez.

Yes but he still had £115m to spend and spent it poorly. If we sold his signings tomorrow how much would be recouped. If anything the sales of Benitez signings almost makes his nett spend at Anfield £0-almost. Kenny is not the right man tactically. He should be moved into an Ambassador role for the club. At the end of the day we are miles below the top 4 and below teams that spent a fraction of what he has.

It has been widely reported that the transfer fees were down to Comolli, thats why damian was sacked. You cannot pin the blame on Kenny for the money spent i’m afraid. You are clearly not well informed.

ok regardless of the money spent AND the scapegoating of Comolli, the majority of players are not good enough and not of the quality required – and never were. Kenny has also said that all these players were his choices, and just because it has been ‘reported’ that DC was to blame for the amounts, does not mean Kenny was not involved. BAdly informed?? at least I’m able to make up my own mind and not just rely on ‘reports’…

No Andy I wasn’t – same way I haven’t slated Henderson, Carroll, Coates – because they clearly have talent. I don’t blame Carroll for the money spent on him – but for £35m you don’t buy potential you expect the final product. I also believe that Kenny has no idea of tactics and consistently fails to get the best out of these guys. I don’t believe that Comolli did all this himself. Downing and Adam have never been class players and were never right for the club. Spearing should be no where near the first team and this season – when it’s counted, Kenny has failed badly.

Lucas was Brazil under 20 captain, led Gremio to the final of the Copa Libertadores and was the youngest winner of the Bola de Ouro. I can see talent and am not blinded by false loyalty or the emperor’s new clothes syndrome as you clearly are.

maybe the “liverpool way” is no longer the right way? the bottom line has to be results, no matter how we do that. i really dont care what kind of a football we play if we get the results. this reminds me of roy evans’s tenure at liverpool, we played the best football in england by far,, did not leave us with much to show for it. winning every game 1-0 would win us the title,, and that is what we all want to be aimning for. with changed ownership, liverpool is no longer a “family club” but a big brand in sports and should be handled like such.

I think everything depends now on who FSG would replace Kenny with. I think if a man they want to take the club forward is out there and available, we will see a new man and director of football brought in simultaneously. Kenny is a legend, always has been, always will be and my shout would be to give him another season at the very least. The trophy burden is now out of the way for the first time in years, perhaps next season Kenny has to get a new priority across to the team. League form next season is the main focus. This season, we all wanted a trophy as well as 4th, somewhere along the line priorities got jumbled as we gained more success in the cups. Anything more than that was unrealistic. Looking forward to ensuring Chelsea cannot qualify for champions league domestically with a win tomorrow night. YNWA

I am all for giving the manager time, but if we have the right manager and I strongly believe Kenny is not that man. A real legend but his last success was in 1994-95. And in 1998 he was sacked from Newcastle. He has been away from top level management for too long and the landscape has changed too much. Saying that people who don’t believe he should be manager are not true fans is unfair. We support LFC not an individual, and it smacks of ‘the Emperor’s new clothes’ syndrome.
Benitez for me would still be the right man. Built a good team on a relatively small budget and was denied the chance to sign many of his first choice signings by the worst board in our history. One bad season where our best players (Torres and Gerrard) were injured highlighted the fact he was no longer allowed to bring in as many players as he would of liked and he was hounded out by the media. It reminded me of the England job. Sven did his best with poor resources but was hounded out buy the press for a ‘good old British manager’ – same thing with Benitez. He put us back on the map as a real European force and in his first season he did A LOT better than Kenny has. Danny Murphy pointed out at the end of last season that last year LFC had no pressure and it would be interesting to see what happens this year and he doubted we would repeat our performances of the 2nd half of last year — he was right.

Rafa Benitez finished his first season a similar amount of points behind the eventual league winners. He went on to build and mould a team over the next few seasons that was feared in Europe. We need to give a manager more time ( if we can see shoots of improvement ).

@Arni We are not Chelsea or Newcastle or any of the other chop and change clubs in football. We pride ourselves on not being a club that changes a manager every season. Unfortunately, we live in a time where
supporters patience is so short, the over analysis of games are short sighted and reduced to 10 second
sound bite cliches between commercial breaks – that no one gets an opportunity to build a team anymore. No one knows this club like Kenny Daglish, if he feels he cannot take us where we want to be, he will make that decision for the best of the club. Who are any of us to say Kenny ( of all people ) shouldn’t have a chance to make this right.

Yes and under Kenny, Wigan and Fulham have their first wins at Anfield and WBA their first in 40 odd years. Hodgeson was poor, so is Dalglish. Andy you should support Kenny FC not Liverpool FC, as clearly you have a blind spot regarding him. £120m spent and we are worse – we are 9th in the league!

I worry that people like Zaman write rubbish, anyone knows that there are risks associated by adopting a “youth first strategy”. To call KD tactically inept is a joke, who masterminded wins over Man Utd, Man City, was it someone else? No it was KD ! Put down FIFA 12 and go and do some real coaching if you know so much about football.

Yes end of !!
To all those fans on 606 after the fa cup final dissing kenny and the players yeah you are fans not supporters go to games and support the club through thick and thin as the comment above says we have a trophy and european football to blood sterling ect did we have that last season NO.
Most of the games we have played this season we have played some top football just been unluckey and not finshed teams off it will come good . We can not keep changing managers kenny is the man just takes time fergie took 7 years to win his first trophy ect !
SO DO ONE !

Just to add i did not get a ticket to the cup final but i was at anfield for the big screen the next best thing the kop was a sell out and it was just like a big game at home where you there doubt it !!

In my opinion Liverpool can only get better, we as Liverpool supporters need to be realistic. Things don’t fall into place over night, we have bought 8 new players this season, 6 of which start most games. It will take time to gel and adjust. It is quick to point fingers and condemn Dalglish, but we shouldn’t be naïve. Yes we are on the brink of finishing 9th. But there are plenty positives to take out of this year.

We made two finals, won a trophy and are playing Europe next year, that is a far cry better than last year, its not ideally what we aimed for – but it is progress.

Don’t forget City, spent vast amounts of money and ended 5th in their first season after new ownership, the next year 3rd & won the FA Cup, now this year they on the brink of winning the title. It was a 3year process, therefore we should be patient and give Kenny atleast another year in charge – if we fail in our bid to sercure Champions League Football then by all means look elsewhere.

Dalglish’s record speaks for itself & we should trust he has our clubs best interest at heart. Let’s stand together, as a unit voice our full support and see what he can deliver.

All I know is ”we walk on with hope in our heart” and let’s hope we can be restored to former glories!

this false optimism here is pathetic! When mark hughes failed to take City to CL he was sacked! @tony-pls tell me what is so great about playing in europa league and finishing 9th in the league? Yes we have reached 2 cup finals! We barely won against a championship team who didnt even make play offs and we lost another. KD is a club legend! Agreed. But this blind and delusional wont take the club forward!

I don’t think Dalglish is the way forward but I think he needs another season to at least prove me wrong. I’m not convinced by his tactical expertise across an entire season and I certainly worry about his judgement of players.

I find it a little funny that the Europa Cup has suddenly taken on so much meaning for people when it was earlier thought of as an inconvenience. “Europe” is nice but lets not pretend that “Europe” has any real worth unless it is the Champion’s League.

very true mate! The time we missed out on CL under Benitez every one wanted him out cuz we were ended up in Europa league. Now the mid table mentality has crept into our minds and we are satisfied with Europa league! We are LFC for godsake! World’s greatest club! Hate to see people accept mediocrity to support an individual! How much time these people give Roy? He wasnt given the chance to manage the team from day 1! Nw we support KD cuz hes a club legend? We all love KD! But he might not be the right man at the moment! So we should adapt with modern football and move on! The club is more imp than any individual!

i know that by posting this im going to be hounded by some kenny fanatics,still in the interest of LFC i have to say it out. The fundamental problem this season has been the bad performance of in the midfield and the wingers! We have recruited 4 midfielders namely downing,henderson,adam and bellamy of which only bellamy has been a success. Adam also should be given the benefit of doubt as he had the 2nd most assists after David Silva in January. Downing has been the biggest flop! He hasnt even showed promise of playing decently! Hendo will be gud in future i hope. I hate the argument that we hit the woodwork 30 times! Man city has hit the woodwork 20 times and still they scored twice the goals we have scored! So its a lame excuse! Our midfield hasnt been creative enuf and finishing has been shit! And im very disappointed in the tactics employed in the 2nd half of the season! We were playin defensive against stoke at home,very late substitutions, too much faith in flops and they are dropped just wen they have a good game,too much squad rotation etc. The suarez affair was badly handled and bad relationship with the press is also not helping! Since we are not in CL i highly doubt if any class player outside british isles will join us! And with the current squad CL is a distant dream! So i think in order to get out of this perennial mid table position we have to get in a young manager like AVB,jurgenn klopp,guardiola(far fetched),conte,unai emery etc. I thnk kenny should be appointed as the director of football inorder to bring back the identity of our club but shouldnt be given too much power over transfers which must rest with the manager.

After an outlay of over a hundred million pounds, two finals(one trophy won) and a mid table finish in the league, blame has to be aportioned to the manager. Dalaglish only had to make some additional world class signings to the players we already had and Liverpool would have been flying. Instead, he went for a total rebuild of the team, and from the evidence before us, some of his signings are questionable.

@mike lee-i dont see anything wrong with what zaman said! Our main problem for the last 20 years has been our inability to beat small teams! If u have watched man u,they win playin ugly football but more imp they win! Results matter or we can go on another 20 years without a title when we cant reach man u’s achievements! If we want to prevent that we have to cut o ut the emotional attachement and focus on results! I personally thnk kenny should be given time till january and if he fails again then we are gona become a mid table club. Inorder to prevent that we need a change of ideas and stratergy! More importantly a direction which is totally absent in todays liverpool!

It’s not a case of fans and supporters – we’re not talking Man Utd here – but it is all about expectation and improvement. Expectation: After over 20 years of no title, I now don’t have any expectations which I find very sad. In that time, we have been runners-up just the twice. We have finished 8th only once before, way back in 93-94; we have finished more than 20 points behind the champions TEN times, more than 30 points behind four times counting this season. Last season we were 22 points behind, this season more than 30, that is not improvement regardless of how many cups we win. Improvement: The team improved at the end of last season under KK, just as Chelsea have at the end of this season – it will be interesting to see how they (Chelsea) fare next season. I would like to think KK could do it for us but I have my doubts. This season our league performances have again been nowhere near the standard I would desire or expect; too many draws once again, too many stupid defeats. We are not getting the big cash input that the likes of the other top clubs are getting and buying themselves success, while some of the other high riding teams have managed it without the big buying sprees. But even when we had the money to spend we haven’t bought the world class players we need, while other top clubs do seem to get the right players to strengthen their squads. As soon as we get a couple of top players injured, it exposes our squad for what it is. There is no point in blaming the woodwork and saying they need another season to blend. Yes, we have hit many purple patches in that 20 years when we have been the best team in the league, but you need to do that for the whole season to win what we all want, a title. I don’t want fourth spot, third or even second, or a cup double, I want to win the title. I do not see that happening with the squad we have. I honestly don’t see the Americans giving us the money we need for world class players, and not getting into the Champions League is a big loss. And we need a bigger stadium for the revenue to help this along. Is KK the man for the job? I’m coming around to the conclusion – and I never thought I would say it – that he isn’t, but any newcomer would still need the cash to do anything better with the players we have. And don’t forget, Stevie and Carra aren’t getting any younger!

Whoever we sign i do not think they will flourish until clarke and kevin keen leave the club, the coaching is inept as well as fitness levels. There have been so many tired lethargic performances this seasons. I would bring Pako Ayesteran back as Kennys assistant, a modern technical coach who was hugely popular with the players, he is also a qualified fitness expert. His knowledge would compliment Kennys very well.

With his boring tactic of only passing in our own half and choice of failure British players, Downing, Hendo and Adam,

No.

He was brought to stabilize the club after Rafa, Xabi, Torres, Masch (and Woy) left. But that’s about it. There’s too much saying of “pass and move” and “the Liverpool way” but the result is crystal clear.

Individual errors are costing us every match. Enrique is having a bad form and even cost us the first goal last Saturday and Agger have been used as LB to fix it. It’s not been Pepe’s best season as every shot on target seems to pass him every time.

Kenny is reluctant to use Maxi and Kuyt these days as their contract is running out and slowly trying to remove them from the picture and it’s showing on the pitch. Putting Hendo + Spearing to sit deep is never a good option and i hope we’ll never see that again.

I am all for giving the manager time, but if we have the right manager and I strongly believe Kenny is not that man. A real legend but his last success was in 1994-95. And in 1998 he was sacked from Newcastle. He has been away from top level management for too long and the landscape has changed too much. Saying that people who don’t believe he should be manager are not true fans is unfair. We support LFC not an individual, and it smacks of ‘the Emperor’s new clothes’ syndrome.
Benitez for me would still be the right man. Built a good team on a relatively small budget and was denied the chance to sign many of his first choice signings by the worst board in our history. One bad season where our best players (Torres and Gerrard) were injured highlighted the fact he was no longer allowed to bring in as many players as he would of liked and he was hounded out by the media. It reminded me of the England job. Sven did his best with poor resources but was hounded out buy the press for a ‘good old British manager’ – same thing with Benitez. He put us back on the map as a real European force and in his first season he did A LOT better than Kenny has. Danny Murphy pointed out at the end of last season that last year LFC had no pressure and it would be interesting to see what happens this year and he doubted we would repeat our performances of the 2nd half of last year — he was right.

The ” Liverpool way ” existed during the Shankly fagan paisley era.
Anything in life that wants to stay competative has to adapt or die.
I dont wish to buy a title or fire managers every season until we find the right one……But.
The clubs we used to be miles infront of have adapted to the new climate of football…..WE are still trying to recreate the glory days when football was slower and the rules werent so inhibitive.
Liverpool football club became great because a man called Shankly had an ideology that gave us the platform to dominate.
You really think shankley would still be trying to play the same way today? he’d have the sense to see the game for what it is, and adapt.
Dalglish is caught in a love affair with Liverpool as are many fans who remember the glory we had, I remember it.
But being a fan looking at the big picture, I can see how times have changed and those who have success adopt a certain mentality, that our gracious club forbids.
Talking like champions appears to be frowned upon.
We’ve lost the winning mentality, because managers have been too coy.
We won the champions league under benitez, in one of the most amazing finals ever, and asked the question……do you think this will push you on to win the title…….” we’ll lets not get carried away, we have a long way to go” was rafa’s response, we finished second, and still rafa and co talk like we’re lucky.
Mourinho doesnt do diplomacy, he thinks like a winner, and when losing doesnt take it laying down.
Chelsea spoke like champions, because they had belief.
I dont see any belief in this Liverpool side.
I just see optimism.
Its all about making Europa as being a sign of improvement.
We arent newcastle or Everton.
We’ve won 18 titles and 5 champions league trophies.
We should expect to make top 4 as a bare minimum.
My point being.
Dalglish is too lapse, too laid back about our situation.
We need a manager who can not only attract players with attitude, but also a manager who will publically state his intent to dominate…..Then the players will start to think and behave like winners.
That breeds a higher level of application during the matches we’ve been losing…..Fulham Bolton QPR etc etc.
We need a manager to say HEY I do it my way, not the Liverpool way,…..whats the Liverpool way won you in the last 20 years…..its won you cups, but no titles.
This team doesnt have the mentality to last a season on top… I am going to change this, by doing it my way. I want David villa, Lavazzi jackson martinez.I dont want henderson adams spearing or downing.
Lets hope the new owners act now.
Shankly shares alot with Mourinho, they are both winners, however shankly was more humble.
My point being.
We need someone with serious charisma, who can lay a new foundation that gathers momentum, which results in players playing like champions for 38 games.
Kenny isnt that kind of man.
But he’ll be a legend at Liverpool regardless.
If he loves us so much plz kenny step aside.

Westcott – well said my friend. We must look forward to building a strong (much stronger than now) squad that can at least challenge for top four but also to win the title, that is what Liverpool FC is about; not finishing 8th and 30 odd points adfrift of the top spot – 30 points, just think of it – and if just getting the ball into the back of the net instead of hitting the woodwork in ten games woudl put us on top, then I say go out and buy the player who can do it!! But it isn’t just that, we have signed players who are not up to it and they must go and we must go hunting the signatures of the world’s top players like the other top clubs ….. or we will still be languishing in the doldrums this time next year. Kenny isn’t the man and I don’t believe Benitez should come back either – we need to look forward , not backwards again. What next, bring back Woy????? Hey, I’ll still support ’em but its not doing my health any good.

I’m not from Liverpool, or anywhere in England for that matter, but I do consider myself a big supporter and having watched every game this season I find it hard to understand how people can say that we haven’t improved from last season.

There have been maybe 5-10 games this season where we haven’t played as well as we should have and didn’t create enough chances to win. In the rest of the games it was just that the ball wasn’t going in the back of the net, which I know is not a good thing but I don’t think a change of manager is going 2 change that.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think any club besides Manchester City and maybe Man utd and Chelsea have had more shots on target than us this season. Which tells us 2 things, firstly that we have created more than enough chances and secondly that our finishing has been poor.

A change in manager would affect the number of chances we are creating(which I don’t think could be improved a lot but it could decrease if a new manager changes the playing style) however I don’t think a new manager would miraculously improve the finishing of the players, I think that could be improved with slightly different training exercises or a bit more confidence from the players (we don’t need 2 radically change the squad).

I remember last season under Roy we played some of the most boring football I’ve seen any team play and while he had a higher win percentage than King Kenny I’d much rather watch the football that we are playing now. I’m not saying that I am happy with Liverpool in mid-table, but I think if more people actually watched complete games and not just the highlights they’d also see that its only a matter of time until the ball starts going in the net and we start climbing the table(maybe with a few more decent signings).

I don’t think that any manager better suited to take over Liverpool Football Club, than Kenny Dalglish, would come to liverpool now, and I have complete faith that King Kenny is the right man 2 move the club forward and make Liverpool Football Club title contenders once again. All he needs is a bit more time to get the team to gel and score some goals and support from the Liverpool Family.

Kenny has made a big utterly useless mess of Liverpool, all this “net spent” is just an excuse. No manager has ever spent over a 100 million and made their team worse except Kenny. My god people are blind, get you heads out of the sand. you’re supporting Kenny, we’re supporting Liverpool.

As much as I hate to admit it because Kenny is a legend and bleeds Liverpool FC I don’t think he can take us to the next level. He was perfect for this transition period to bring the club together after we were staring into the abyss under h&g but we need a more dynamic technical manager that can adapt to the many variants in the modern game. I fear that while we a trying to break back into the top four the top for are strengthening further and even expanding the distance between us. We can’t afford tiny incremental improvements we need step change improvements to get back to where we belong at the top of the game. It pains me to say this but we must not accept mediocrity in any form at any time. Shankly would never stand for it… It is not the Liverpool way. That said while Fenway have given him the go ahead we all need to support him and believe he will do the best thing for the club. YNWA